Field of the Invention
This patent relates to hand-held devices such as openers designed and intended for two main purposes. The first is to remove a screw or twist cap or lid from a container which is designed to be closed by the cap or lid, and second, to remove a cork, or like stopper, from a container that is designed to receive and be closed by the cork or stopper. The containers can be any bottle or jar that is sealed by either a screw or twist cap or lid or a cork or similar sealing plug or stopper and may be used to retaining liquid and/or solid products including comestible and other products.
Brief Description of the Related Art
People have been removing caps and corks from bottles and other containers for years. In many cases, the cap or the cork is sealed by a bottler once contents have been placed inside. Often, caps and corks are difficult to remove manually. Often, twist or screw type caps or lids almost become sealed to containers requiring the use of torque applying tools, mechanical tapping or the application of heated water to break the sealed to enable the caps or lids to be removed by hand. Because of this, various innovations have been made to provide electronically powered devices to facilitate cap and cork removal from bottles and other containers.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,975 to Spencer, J R (1992), discloses a corkscrew apparatus which is able to extract a cork from a bottle as well as reinsert a cork back into the bottle. The apparatus has an extraction tube which fits over a mouth of the bottle when a bottle is inserted into the apparatus. When the apparatus is turned on, a reversible motor turns in a first direction that turns an auger so as to extend axially through the extraction tube. The auger is then rotated into a cork within the bottle. As the auger advances into the cork, a shoulder formed on an inside of the extraction tube engages an upper end of the bottle. Once the shoulder of the extraction tube reaches the upper end of the bottle, the auger will extract the cork from the bottle into the extraction tube.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,579 to Metz et al. (1994), a device is disclosed having an automatic corkscrew, which can stand upright. Such a device incorporates a detachable cutting device that mounts onto a base of a housing and adds stability when the device is in an upright position. The device is powered by a rechargeable battery, which is used to drive a reversible motor. The motor drives an auger, which is used to remove a cork from a bottle. When the device is turned on, the process to remove the cork from a bottle begins. The battery powers the reversible motor, which turns the auger. The device uses a cork removal mechanism for retaining the cork when extracted from bottle. The cork removal mechanism includes a cork holder that slides along the housing of the device. A button is used to hold the cork stationary allowing the auger to rotate relative to the cork for extraction. The rotation of the auger causes the auger to enter the cork and thereafter extract the cork from the bottle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,138B2 to Battles et al (2004), discloses a cap removing device having an opening to receive a bottle cap. The device includes a top, a base and two opposing annular members which, when used in the operation of the device, grip the sides of a bottle cap after which the bottle cap can be twisted off of a container. In addition, the device has a crimped bottle cap removal system, cams, bushings and torsion springs that provide increased gripping force on a bottle cap. The device is used to remove the bottle cap from the container or bottle and is designed in such a way that the top and base provide leverage for the user to reduce hand stress on the user when twisting the bottle cap off.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,477,920 to Yang (2002), a cork removal apparatus is disclosed including a press-in member, both exterior and interior barrels, a chamber to accept a bottle and a needle fixed at the bottom of the interior barrel. The needle includes an inlet for gas, a passageway for gas and an exit way for gas. Within the interior barrel of the cork removal apparatus is a compartment for a gas container. To operate, a user places a gas container into the interior barrel, places a bottle with a cork into the chamber of the apparatus, and aligns the sharp tip end of the needle downward onto the top of the cork. The user then pushes the apparatus downward, which in turn pushes the needle until it penetrates the cork. With this downward motion the needle is driven through the cork and extends past the opposite side of the cork exposing the discharge opening of the needle. A press-in member can force gas from the gas container to flow through the needle into the bottle to extract the cork upward from the bottle for a safe removal of the cork.
Lastly, referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,282 to Bathey (2005), a lid torqueing device is described which may be used to assist in the removal of a lid from a container. Such a device can also be used to tightening the lid onto a container. The device has a housing having an engagement surface with an opening slot which is sized and configured to accommodate at least a portion of the lid. A moveably mounted member with pivoting action is joined with a spring to adjust the slot size based on the size of bottle lid. When a container has a lid to be remover, the user simply holds the device over the bottle placing the lid into the device slot. The mounted member with pivoting action will adjust to the size of the lid for a tight grip. The user then turns the entire device creating torque, which removes the lid.
Today when a user wants to open a bottle having a cork stopper, they can use a manual cork-driving device to remove the cork from the bottle. An alternative is to use an electrically charged and/or battery driven corkscrew to remove the cork from a bottle. However, what happens when a user needs to open a bottle of beverage, particularly ones with a long neck or even a short neck. For most cases, they hold a bottle and use their hands to tightly grip the bottle cap and twist in order to release or break the seal placed during the bottling process. Often a person will use a vice grip, gripping tool or other devices designed to create leverage wherein the person uses their hand to grip the device which grips the bottle cap. The use of such devices creates torque and gives leverage to the user to twist off the bottle cap from a bottle.